The 14th volume of San Marino identity presented to the public
In the presence of a large and particularly attentive public, the traditional appointment of the Dante Alighieri Association for the presentation of the 14th issue of “Identità San Marino” was held last Thursday in the Enzo Donald Mularoni room at the ANIS headquarters. The speaker was Sister Maria Gloria Riva, a teacher by training and a great art expert, who fascinated those present by commenting and analyzing the essays with a truly captivating oratorical dialectic. Sister Gloria carried out an original reading of each essay because, in addition to deepening the content covered, she linked the topics to works of art, paintings, architectural monuments, sculptures and was able to grasp with great and refined ability elements referring to the history of our Republic. On the occasion of the sixth centenary of the birth of Federico da Montefeltro, this year’s Yearbook, introduced by Meris Monti, opens the large series of essays with a document dating back to the 15th century: a letter that the Duke of Urbino wrote to the Captains Regent in October 1450, commented by Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri, who analyzes four other letters of the Duke concerning the theme of freedom, a significant testimony that demonstrates the importance that the Republic has always attributed to the value of freedom and to the relationships of friendship with neighboring states. The value of the Feretran anniversary is amply documented in the essay by Dolores Benedettini, coordinator of the exhibition on the correspondence between Federico da Montefeltro and San Marino exhibited at Palazzo Pubblico. Sister Maria Gloria linked these two interventions to a work by Piero della Francesca known as the Brera Altarpiece, reading in it Federico da Montefeltro’s faith and yearning for freedom. Also the intervention of Leo Marino Morganti, an essay of high historical and architectural importance on the life of two “exiles archistars” Donato Bramante and Giovan Battista Belluzzi, (whose origins, extensively studied by various experts, remain rather nebulous) have found confirmation in the work of Piero della Francesca. This artist greatly inspired the architects of the Renaissance and, in particular, Donato Bramante as can be seen from the comparison of the apse of the Brera altarpiece with some Bramante buildings. The volume dedicates the Memory section to Fausta Simona Morganti, who recently passed away, an authoritative personality, with high cultural gifts, imbued with a great love for our country. The memory of the brothers is profound, highlighting Fausta’s political and institutional commitment aimed at achieving the cultural and social progress of the San Marino community. Then follow texts ranging from history to memory, from law to social problems, from literature to scientific aspects and to the artistic and monumental heritage, contributions that constitute a valid tool for reaffirming the founding features of the historical roots of our country to be transmitted to the younger generations since, as Marta Cartabia writes in the oration delivered on the occasion of the inauguration of the Captains Regent on 1 April 2022 and published in the Yearbook, “Reflecting on what has been enriches our memory and, therefore, our awareness and can help us to better understand who we are today”. Of considerable historical value is Marino Cecchetti’s essay on the “First Italian-San Marino Convention” which he intends to demonstrate, by analyzing important archival documents, such as the Republic of San Marino, despite being an enclave of the Papal State in the seventeenth century and of the Italian State since 1861, he was able to defend his sovereignty with the only means available: political intelligence, supported by the figure of the Saint. The necessary essays on the protection of the safety and dignity of the work carried out by Lamberto Emiliani and Renzo Ghiotti are very current and certainly very important. Referring to the “Declaration of citizens’ rights and of the fundamental principles of the San Marino legal system”, the Judge draws attention to the protection of the dignity of work as a fundamental right of the person in compliance with what is expressed in international agreements. This text is linked to the essay by Renzo Ghiotti, which examines the complexity of the issue from a technical and procedural point of view. Still in the juridical field, very interesting for the purposes of a legislative knowledge, the contribution of Luigi Lonfernini who, with extreme clarity, illustrates the evolution of inheritance law, in particular two legislative acts of the last century with which any disparity was eliminated within the family and the holographic will was recognized as valid. The contributions of these authors and in particular some sentences by Fausta Simona Morganti suggested to Sister Maria Gloria the juxtaposition with a suggestive work by Giovanni Bellini: the Madonna del Prato. A turreted city, due to its similarity to the profile of our Republic, develops in order behind the Virgin, also thanks to that work ethic to which the Judeo-Christian roots of Europe have given a notable contribution. On the opposite side, however, the image of sloth: an idle farmer and a landscape left to itself. Just a phrase by Fausta Morganti represents an effective comment on this work: “a country only for tourists, which could close its doors in the evening, is a dying country. Save it!”. Bellini’s Madonna so central and showing the divine Son, Infant yet already referring to the dead Christ, tells of a Christian culture, of roots that no intellectual honesty regardless of one’s creed can ignore. The work of recovering one’s cultural roots is the necessary premise for not being absorbed by a globalization incapable of respecting the peculiarities of a people and a State like San Marino. The profile of Tonino Guerra traced by Sergio Barducci is suggestive, narrating the privilege of having known a man of profound thought and a simple meeting was enough to compose the salient features of the biography of a character so closely linked to San Marino. Here Sister Maria Gloria, who was able to closely share Sergio Barducci’s feelings for having enjoyed the friendship of Tonino Guerra, linked the testimony on the originality of this great poet and playwright with a work by Magritte: the psychotherapist. The seated, faceless man with the hat and stick seems to portray Tonino Guerra, while his sense of friendship and the depth with which he plumbed human feelings are linked to the surreal image of the doves. The bird in the foreground is able to open man’s inner cage and free the dove within him. The text on the San Marino Red Cross written by Giuliano Giardi is very rich and significant, reconstructing the history of the institution from its birth, providing a detailed itinerary on the numerous interventions carried out during the First World War up to the aid and support to the population carried out by volunteers during the period of the Covid 19 epidemic. With some simple images, Sister Maria Gloria portrays the path of this flag. From the Swiss flag with white cross on a red field, linked to Jean Henry Dunant, founder of the red cross, through the white ceasefire flag to the white flag with red cross to clearly indicate the free and nursing nature of entry into field. The new volume could not miss a scientific reference on the geological nature of the territory of our Republic. Thus Cristiano Guerra proposes an important essay dedicated to the geological fascination of Monte Titano in which he reports the rigorous studies that Deodat de Dolomieau and Benedict de Saussure carried out during their study trips to San Marino in the last years of the eighteenth century to make specific observations and their research on the clayey outcrops of the San Marino territory and on the cavities of the limestone rock, traces left in their publications. Two historical testimonies of great interest, strictly linked to life in San Marino in the early years of the last century, are the texts by Franco Franciosi and Rosolino Martelli. Franciosi, nephew of the eminent Pietro Franciosi, describes some particularly significant aspects of life in the historic district of the “Macello”, near the Porta della Rupe, the Monastery of S. Chiara, within the third group of walls that enclose the historic center of the City on the mountain. Instead, Martelli presents us inside the elementary school of Borgo Maggiore with his beautiful essay entitled “The auction notebook”, enriched with unpublished sketches, and illustrates various moments of school life in the post-war period. A song pervaded by deep and authentic feelings. Sister Maria Gloria connects Franco Franciosi and his memories with a very special still life by Pieter Aertsen entitled Banco di macelleria. Daily and religious life is photographed by this author starting from a showy close-up of butchered meat and every good thing. In the background, however, just as Franco Franciosi recalls, faith remains that works through charity. The memory of the grandfather who never failed to give alms to the neediest rebounds in Aertsen’s portrait of the Holy Family intent on distributing some goods to the poor. Rosolino Martelli’s memories, accompanied by his pencil drawings, retain the flavor of those years and arouse feelings, as he himself says, of a “Deamicisian” kind. And it is precisely to the book Cuore and those school desks that a beautiful canvas by Antonio Mancini refers. This artist indirectly had to do with the history of San Marino for having been the master of the painter Amelia Ambron, mother of that Emilio Ambron who donated part of her collection to the convent and San Francesco Art Gallery in San Marino. The dreaming child waiting for play time next to the window punctually evokes the stories of Rosolino Martelli. If the volume closes with the essay by Pietro Suzzi Valli entitled “Terra Nullius”, in which the author presents an excerpt from the eighteenth-century cabreo preserved in the Vatican Secret Archive concerning the definition of the borders from Pieve Corena to Valle Sant’Anastasio , Sr. Maria Gloria’s conversation stopped on the beautiful presentation of the restoration work by Anna Malpeli and Graziella Venturini. In their article, the two experts from the State Museums’ Restoration Center illustrate various works of art, indicating strategies, methods and techniques with which to achieve the full return of the works themselves. Sister Maria Gloria focused on the fresco of the “Madonna del Latte” of Serravalle, attributed to Bitino da Faenza. The evening ended with this beautiful iconography, which in its popular guise hides many symbolic, biblical and theological aspects. Nothing more significant to frame the presentation of Identità Sammarinese on the threshold of the Christmas festivities, which is considered by many San Marino citizens a very welcome Christmas present, available at newsstands and bookshops throughout the Republic.
CS Dante Alighieri